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On
Spirituality
The
worship of the "Great Mystery" was silent, solitary, free from all self-seeking.
It was silent, because all speech is of necessity feeble and imperfect;
therefore the souls of my ancestors ascended to God in wordless adoration.
It was solitary, because they believed that He is nearer to us in solitude,
and there were no priests authorized to come between a man and his Maker.
None might exhort or confess or in any way meddle with the religious
experience of another. Among us all men were created sons of God and
stood erect, as conscious of their divinity. Our faith might not be
formulated in creeds, nor forced upon any who were unwilling to receive
it; hence there was no preaching, proselytizing, nor persecution, neither
were there any scoffers or atheists.
There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. He would
deem it sacrilege to build a house for Him who may be met face to face
in the mysterious, shadowy aisles of the primeval forest, or on the
sunlit bosom of virgin prairies, upon dizzy spires and pinnacles of
naked rock, and yonder in the jeweled vault of the night sky! He who
enrobes Himself in filmy veils of cloud, there on the rim of the visible
world where our Great-grandfather Sun kindles his evening camp-fire,
He who rides upon the rigorous wind of the north, or breathes forth
His spirit upon aromatic southern airs, whose war-canoe is launched
upon majestic rivers and inland seas —He needs no lesser cathedral!
The Sun and the Earth were in his view the parents of all organic life.
From the Sun, as the universal father, proceeds the quickening principle
in nature, and in the patient and fruitful womb of our mother, the Earth,
are hidden embryos of plants and men.
The elements and majestic forces in nature, Lightning, Wind, Water,
Fire, and Frost, were regarded with awe as spiritual powers, but always
secondary and intermediate in character. We believed that the spirit
pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some
degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of itself. The tree,
the waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is an embodied Force, and as such
an object of reverence.
The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with
his brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for
him something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent
and irresponsible child. He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious
wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly
voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage
to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings.
Whenever, in the course of the daily hunt, the red hunter comes upon
a scene that is strikingly beautiful and sublime —a black thunder-cloud
with the rainbow's glowing arch above the mountain; a white waterfall
in the heart of a green gorge; a vast prairie tinged with the blood-red
of sunset— he pauses for an instant in the attitude of worship. He sees
no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him
all days are God's.
Every
act of his life is, in a very real sense, a religious act. He recognizes
the spirit in all creation, and believes that he draws from it spiritual
power. His respect for the immortal part of the animal, his brother,
often leads him so far as to lay out the body of his game in state and
decorate the head with symbolic paint or feathers. Then he stands before
it in the prayer attitude, holding up the filled pipe, in token that
he has freed with honor the spirit of his brother, whose body his need
compelled him to take to sustain his own life.
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On
Death and The Soul's Journey
The
attitude of the Indian toward death, the test and background of life,
is entirely consistent with his character and philosophy. Death has
no terrors for him; he meets it with simplicity and perfect calm, seeking
only an honorable end as his last gift to his family and descendants.
Therefore, he courts death in battle; on the other hand, he would regard
it as disgraceful to be killed in a private quarrel. If one be dying
at home, it is customary to carry his bed out of doors as the end approaches,
that his spirit may pass under the open sky.
Many of the Indians believed that one may be born more than once, and
there were some who claimed to have full knowledge of a former incarnation.
There were also those who held converse with a "twin spirit," who had
been born into another tribe or race.
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On
Silence
The
first American mingled with his pride a singular humility. Spiritual
arrogance was foreign to his nature and teaching. He never claimed that
the power of articulate speech was proof of superiority over the dumb
creation; on the other hand, it is to him a perilous gift. He believes
profoundly in silence —the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is
the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit. The man who
preserves his selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence
—not a leaf, as it were, astir on the tree; not a ripple upon the surface
of shining pool— his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal
attitude and conduct of life.
If you ask him: "What is silence?" he will answer: "It is the Great
Mystery!" "The holy silence is His voice!" If you ask: "What are the
fruits of silence?" he will say: "They are self-control, true courage
or endurance, patience, dignity, and reverence. Silence is the cornerstone
of character."
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On
Early Religious Teachings
The
Indian was a religious man from his mother's womb. From the moment of
her recognition of the fact of conception to the end of the second year
of life, which was the ordinary duration of lactation, the mother's
spiritual influence counted for most. Her attitude and secret meditations
must be such as to instill into the receptive soul of the unborn child
the love of the "Great Mystery" and a sense of brotherhood with all
creation. Silence and isolation are the rule of life for the expectant
mother. She wanders prayerful in the stillness of great woods, or on
the bosom of the untrodden prairie.
And when the day of days in her life dawns —the day in which there is
to be a new life, the miracle of whose making has been intrusted to
her— she seeks no human aid. She has been trained and prepared in body
and mind for this her holiest duty, ever since she can remember. The
ordeal is best met alone, where no curious or pitying eyes embarrass
her; where all nature says to her spirit: "'Tis love! 'tis love! the
fulfilling of life!"
She continues her spiritual teaching, at first silently —a mere pointing
of the index finger to nature— then in whispered songs, bird-like, at
morning and evening. To her and to the child the birds are real people,
who live very close to the "Great Mystery"; the murmuring trees breathe
His presence; the falling waters chant His praise.
If the child should chance to be fretful, the mother raises her hand.
"Hush! hush!" she cautions it tenderly, "the spirits may be disturbed!"
She bids it be still and listen to the silver voice of the aspen, or
the clashing cymbals of the birch; and at night she points to the heavenly,
blazed trail, through nature's galaxy of splendor to nature's God. Silence,
love, reverence, —this is the trinity of first lessons; and to these
she later adds generosity, courage, and chastity.
This
wild mother has not only the experience of her mother and grandmother,
and the accepted rules of her people for a guide, but she humbly seeks
to learn a lesson from ants, bees, spiders, beavers, and badgers. She
studies the family life of the birds, so exquisite in its emotional
intensity and its patient devotion, until she seems to feel the universal
mother-heart beating in her own breast. In due time the child takes
of his own accord the attitude of prayer, and speaks reverently of the
Powers. He thinks that he is a blood brother to all living creatures,
and the storm wind is to him a messenger of the "Great Mystery."
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On
Medicine
There
is no doubt that the Indian held medicine close to spiritual things.
As a doctor he was originally very adroit and often successful. He employed
only healing bark, roots, and leaves with whose properties he was familiar,
using them in the form of a distillation or tea and always singly. The
stomach or internal bath was a valuable discovery of his, and the vapor
bath was in general use. He could set a broken bone with fair success,
but never practiced surgery in any form. In addition to all this, the
medicine-man possessed much personal magnetism and authority, and in
his treatment often sought to reestablish the equilibrium of the patient
through mental or spiritual influences.
The Sioux word for the healing art is "wah-pee-yah," which literally
means readjusting or making anew. "Pay-jee-hoo-tah," literally root,
means medicine, and "wakan" signifies spirit or mystery. Thus the three
ideas, while sometimes associated, were carefully distinguished.
It is important to remember that in the old days the "medicine-man"
received no payment for his services, which were of the nature of an
honorable function or office. When the idea of payment and barter was
introduced among us, and valuable presents or fees began to be demanded
for treating the sick, the ensuing greed and rivalry led to many demoralizing
practices, and in time to the rise of the modern "conjurer," who is
generally a fraud and trickster of the grossest kind.
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On
Animal Spirits
Ever
seeking to establish spiritual comradeship with the animal creation,
the Indian adopted this or that animal as his "totem," the emblematic
device of his society, family, or clan. The sacred beast, bird, or reptile,
represented by its stuffed skin, or by a rude painting, was treated
with reverence and carried into battle to insure the guardianship of
the spirits. The symbolic attribute of beaver, bear, or tortoise, such
as wisdom, cunning, courage, and the like, was supposed to be mysteriously
conferred upon the wearer of the badge. The totem or charm used in medicine
was ordinarily that of the medicine lodge to which the practitioner
belonged, though there were some great men who boasted a special revelation.
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On
Civilization
It
was not wholly from ignorance or improvidence that he failed to establish
permanent towns and to develop a material civilization. To the untutored
sage, the concentration of population was the prolific mother of all
evils, moral no less than physical. He argued that food is good, while
surfeit kills; that love is good, but lust destroys; and not less dreaded
than the pestilence following upon crowded and unsanitary dwellings
was the loss of spiritual power inseparable from too close contact with
one's fellow-men. All who have lived much out of doors know that there
is a magnetic and nervous force that accumulates in solitude and that
is quickly dissipated life in a crowd; and even his enemies have recognized
the fact that for a certain innate power and self-poise, wholly independent
of circumstances, the American Indian is unsurpassed among men.
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On
Marriage
There
was no religious ceremony connected with marriage among us, while on
the other hand the relation between man and woman was regarded as in
itself mysterious and holy. We believed that two who love should be
united in secret, before the public acknowledgment of their union, and
should taste their apotheosis with nature. It was customary for the
young pair to disappear into the wilderness, there to pass some days
or weeks in perfect seclusion and dual solitude, afterward returning
to the village as man and wife. An exchange of presents and entertainments
between the two families usually followed, but the nuptial blessing
was given by the High Priest of God, the most reverend and holy Nature.
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On
Women
It
has been said that the position of woman is the test of civilization,
and that of our women was secure. In them was vested our standard of
morals and the purity of our blood. The wife did not take the name of
her husband nor enter his clan, and the children belonged to the clan
of the mother. All of the family property was held by her, descent was
traced in the maternal line, and the honor of the house was in her hands.
Modesty was her chief adornment; hence the younger women were usually
silent and retiring: but a woman who had attained to ripeness of years
and wisdom, or who had displayed notable courage in some emergency,
was sometimes invited to a seat in the council.
Thus she ruled undisputed within her own domain, and was to us a tower
of moral and spiritual strength, until the coming of the border white
man, the soldier and trader, who with strong drink overthrew the honor
of the man, and through his power over a worthless husband purchased
the virtue of his wife or his daughter. When she fell, the whole race
fell with her.
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On
Giving
Public
giving is a part of every important ceremony. It properly belongs to
the celebration of birth, marriage, and death, and is observed whenever
it is desired to do special honor to any person or event. Upon such
occasions it is common to give to the point of utter impoverishment.
The Indian in his simplicity literally gives away all that he has, to
relatives, to guests of another tribe or clan, but above all to the
poor and the aged, from whom he can hope for no return. Finally, the
gift to the "Great Mystery," the religious offering, may be of little
value in itself, but to the giver's own thought it should carry the
meaning and reward of true sacrifice.
Orphans and the aged are invariably cared for, not only by their next
of kin, but by the whole clan. It is the loving parent's pride to have
his daughters visit the unfortunate and the helpless, carry them food,
comb their hair, and mend their garments.
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On
Names
Indian
names were either characteristic nicknames given in a playful spirit,
deed names, birth names, or such as have a religious and symbolic meaning.
It has been said that when a child is born, some accident or unusual
appearance determines his name. This is sometimes the case, but is not
the rule. A man of forcible character, with a fine war record, usually
bears the name of the buffalo or bear, lightning or some dread natural
force. Another of more peaceful nature may be called Swift Bird or Blue
Sky. A woman's name usually suggested something about the home, often
with the adjective "pretty" or "good," and a feminine termination. Names
of any dignity or importance must be conferred by the old men, and especially
so if they have any spiritual significance; as Sacred Cloud, Mysterious
Night, Spirit Woman, and the like. Such a name was sometimes borne by
three generations, but each individual must prove that he is worthy
of it.
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On
Lying
It
is said that, in the very early days, lying was a capital offense among
us. Believing that the deliberate liar is capable of committing any
crime behind the screen of cowardly untruth and double-dealing, the
destroyer of mutual confidence was summarily put to death, that the
evil might go no further.
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On
Property
The
true Indian sets no price upon either his property or his labor. His
generosity is only limited by his strength and ability. He regards it
as an honor to be selected for a difficult or dangerous service, and
would think it shame to ask for any reward, saying rather: "Let him
whom I serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and
his sense of honor!"
Nevertheless, he recognizes rights in property. To steal from one of
his own tribe would be indeed disgrace if discovered, the name of "Wamanon,"
or Thief, is fixed upon him forever as an unalterable. The only exception
to the rule is in the case of food, which is always free to the hungry
if there is none by to offer it. Other protection than the moral law
there could not be in an Indian community, where there were neither
locks nor doors, and everything was open and easy of access to all comers.
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On
Warfare
Warfare
we regarded as an institution for the "Great Mystery" —an organized
tournament or trial of courage and skill, with elaborate rules and "counts"
for the coveted honor of the eagle feather. It was held to develop the
quality of manliness and its motive was chivalric or patriotic, but
never the desire for territorial aggrandizement or the overthrow of
a brother nation. It was common, in early times, for a battle or skirmish
to last all day, with great display of daring and horsemanship with
scarcely more killed and wounded than may be carried from the field
during a university game of football.
The slayer of a man in battle was expected to mourn for thirty days,
blackening his face and loosening his hair according to the custom.
He of course considered it no sin to take the life of an enemy, and
this ceremonial mourning was a sign of reverence for the departed spirit.
Wanton cruelties and the more barbarous customs of war were greatly
intensified with the coming of the white man, who brought with him fiery
liquor and deadly weapons, aroused the Indian's worst passions, provoking
in him revenge and cupidity, and even offered bounties for the scalps
of innocent men, women, and children.
Murder within the tribe was a grave offense, to be atoned for as the
council might decree, and it often happened that the slayer was called
upon to pay the penalty with his own life. He made no attempt to escape
or to evade justice. That the crime was committed in the depths of the
forest or at dead of night, witnessed by no human eye, made no difference
to his mind. He was thoroughly convinced that all is known to the "Great
Mystery," and hence did not hesitate to give himself up, to stand his
trial by the old and wise men of the victim's clan. A willful murder
was a rare occurrence before the days of whiskey and drunken rows, for
we were not a violent or a quarrelsome people.
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On
Courage
Even
the worst enemies of the Indian, those who accuse him of treachery,
blood-thirstiness, cruelty, and lust, have not denied his courage but
in their minds it is a courage is ignorant, brutal, and fantastic. His
own conception of bravery makes of it a high moral virtue, for to him
it consists not so much in aggressive self-assertion as in absolute
self-control. The truly brave man, we contend, yields neither to fear
nor anger, desire nor agony; he is at all times master of himself; his
courage rises to the heights of chivalry, patriotism, and real heroism.
"Let neither cold, hunger, nor pain, nor the fear of them, neither the
bristling teeth of danger nor the very jaws of death itself, prevent
you from doing a good deed," said an old chief to a scout who was about
to seek the buffalo in midwinter for the relief of a starving people.
This was his childlike conception of courage.
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On
Moral Standards
Long
before I ever heard of Christ, or saw a white man, I had learned from
an untutored woman the essence of morality. With the help of dear Nature
herself, she taught me things simple but of mighty import. I knew God.
I perceived what goodness is. I saw and loved what is really beautiful.
Civilization has not taught me anything better!
As a child, I understood how to give; I have forgotten that grace since
I became civilized. I lived the natural life, whereas I now live the
artificial. Any pretty pebble was valuable to me then; every growing
tree an object of reverence. Now I worship with the white man before
a painted landscape whose value is estimated in dollars! Thus the Indian
is reconstructed, as the natural rocks are ground to powder, and made
into artificial blocks which may be built into the walls of modern society.
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